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| 07 Aug 2006 11:40:54 pm |
 Summer Skiing in Cervina |
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| July 8, 2006: While everyone in Italy is heading to the sea to beat the heat, some friends and I went north to the go glacier skiing! The destination was the glacier between Monte Rosa and Monte Cervino or the Matterhorn. These are the second and third highest peaks in Europe after Mont Blanc just up the road at around 4500 meters. The Matterhorn is perhaps the most familiar mountain in the European Alps. On the border between Switzerland and Italy, its graceful pyramid towers over the Swiss town of Zermatt and the Italian town Breuil-Cervinia in the Val Tournanche. The snow was suprisingly good and our pack of adventures (spannig from totally hard core to simply want a nice view) was full speed ahead. After 3 trams to around 3500 meters we hiked to a rustic lodge which was to be our home base, sleeping quarters, and provider of Ginepy (Valle de Aosta liquorwith aniseed flavor) for the weekend. We then skiied and hiked down to Zermatt (Swiss) and then road a 4th tram the the highest point... and then skiied all the way back down!! My compliments to Alberto and Federico for pulling the trip together and including me! Skiing in July at the top of the world... simply awesome! |
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By : donut
| Category : News |  Comments [98] |  Trackbacks [0]
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| 07 Aug 2006 11:40:24 pm |
| NEW PHOTOS - Summer Skiing in Cervina |
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Cervina Summer Ski - Skiing summer adventrure in Cervina Italy! |
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By : donut
| Category : Recent Photos | Comments [98] | Trackbacks [0]
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| 07 Aug 2006 11:32:47 pm |
| Monkey Loves France 2006 |
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The Nice Monkey - A little monkey fun in Nice! |
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By : donut
| Category : The Monkey | Comments [96] | Trackbacks [0]
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| 04 Jul 2006 01:21:38 am |
| Il Palio in Siena |
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| June 30 - July 3, 2006: In my continuing search to find the great "events" in Europe... Lisa and I landed at "il Palio" in the medieval town of Siena. "Piazza del Campo" is the site for the Palio horse race that is one of the most famous popular Italian manifestations. It takes place every year on July 2 and August 16. The Palio is run to celebrate the miraculous apparition of the Virgin Mary near the old houses that belonged to Provenzano Salvani. If you want a history lesson, look it up on the web but the highlights are the town is divided into districts or "contradi" and every year, 10 are selected to race for honor, love, family, and all the virgins (ok, I added that but it is Italy and it is believable!). Our weekend was wonderfully spent with touring Siena, enjoying the sites and sounds of the pre Palio activities and of course eating Tuscan food! We had 3 wonderful meals which included local favorites like "Florentine"... a 1+ kilo T-Bone and the best steak in all of Italy and Ribollita... a cabbage and bread soup. The main event was the race on Sunday and each contrade parades through the Campo in full medieval wardrobe including armored knights, servants, flag holders and musicians. The tension builds over 3 hours and reach climax with the horse race. Our hotel was located in the ISTRICE (Porcupine) Contrade and were hoping for a local victory... and party afterward! But... the winner was PANTERA (Panther) in a photo finish and an amazing race! At this point, grown men are crying... no weeping with joy and kissing each other, women, children, the horse, the jockey, his helmet... Forza! If "Under the Tuscan Sun" included the Palio... maybe someone other than my mom might of watched it! Il Palio.... simply suberb and a must see! |
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By : donut
| Category : News | Comments [87] | Trackbacks [0]
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| 04 Jul 2006 01:20:25 am |
| NEW PHOTOS - Il Palio |
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Il Palio - Another european tradition! |
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By : donut
| Category : Recent Photos | Comments [94] | Trackbacks [0]
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| 04 Jul 2006 01:18:37 am |
| NEW PHOTOS - The Monkey in Palio |
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The Monkey in Palio - Horse races and monkeys! |
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By : donut
| Category : The Monkey | Comments [87] | Trackbacks [0]
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| 04 Jul 2006 01:17:03 am |
| World Cup Madness |
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June 16 - 18, 2006: So you say you love sausages... and large beers.. and street festivals... and maybe a little football (aka soccer)... well then, welcome to the World Cup in Germany! My luck would have it that Italy (my new home) and the USA (my original home) played an important opening Group Match on June 17th in Kaiserslauten Germany. Would be great to watch the game with lots of friends.. but it would be EVEN better to go to the game with lots of friends... I'll take door #2 please and off we went to Germania! The crew with me was Sam, Jan, Dave, and Dario... a motley bunch to say the least and only 20% true football fans among us. That being said, 100% lovers of beer, sausages, and Germany hospitality!
So, we hit Kaiserslauten on game day about 9 hours before game time... first order of business... find the party. This is an easy one as all roads lead to the Fan Fest / 100 blocks of craziness. Second order... become an obnoxious fan! Oh yes... I believe it was Reagan that said "thou shalt support county"... and off to the cheesiest souvenir stand we could find for Flags, Hats, Face Paints, T-Shirts, Blow Horns... you name it! Next and most important.. beer! The next 8 hours were spent crawling from beer party to beer party... singing, making new friends (World Cup slogan), enjoying the Italia v. USA chanting sessions, and oh yeah... eating sausages. Dario managed to get over a meter into his 5' 5" frame. The sun was shining, spirits high, tickets in hand... and then came game time. You know the rest... game is violent, US is robbed and ends 1 to 1 (kissing your sister). We somehow manage to find our hotel some 50 km away and return to reality the next day. Overall.... a big CHECK in the World Cup box and lots of good memories. |
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By : donut
| Category : News | Comments [92] | Trackbacks [0]
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| 04 Jul 2006 01:15:23 am |
| NEW PHOTOS - World Cup 2006 |
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World Cup 2006 - Our journey into the land of beer and brats! |
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By : donut
| Category : Recent Photos | Comments [96] | Trackbacks [0]
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| 04 Jul 2006 01:14:21 am |
| NEW PHOTOS - World Cup Monkey |
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World Cup Monkey - Everyone made it to the World Cup this year! Even the monkey |
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By : donut
| Category : The Monkey | Comments [86] | Trackbacks [0]
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| 03 Jul 2006 11:01:58 pm |
| NEW PHOTOS - Camminmangiando |
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Camminmangiando - Walking and Eating Adventure |
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By : donut
| Category : Recent Photos | Comments [96] | Trackbacks [0]
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